“You guys make a big deal out of it,” Mark Teixeira said. “Now you guys can talk about something else.”

Thanks to the 13-6 spanking the Yankees gave the Red Sox in front of 49,005 — the largest crowd in the new Yankee Stadium’s short history — they are no longer 0-8 against them.

“We had to keep answering questions the past two days even though we were playing Toronto,” Johnny Damon said. “We got one and our next goal is to get a second game. Hopefully that comes [tonight].”

Damon and Teixeira contributed to the fourth straight victory that upped the Yankees’ AL East to 3½ games, matching the season high of a week ago, over the Red Sox with home runs. Damon went 3-for-5 and is on a 13-for-26 tear. Teixeira went 3-for-4.

The clobbering led to an admission by Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia.

“We’re playing like [garbage] right now. That’s obvious,” Pedroia said. “We went into Tampa Bay and they beat up on us. We came here and didn’t play very good. We’ve got to play better. We’re hitting a stretch of the season where we’re playing the best teams in the division and we’ve got to win.”

The big Yankees blows were struck by Melky Cabrera and Jorge Posada, who connected for three-run homers off John Smoltz and Bill Traber, respectively, in the eight-run fourth.

“It was a good win for us. We got a lot of production from the bottom of the order, and Joba [Chamberlain] got out of that jam in the fifth,” Joe Girardi said. “That changed the game.”

The entire evening wasn’t wonderful. Chamberlain (8-2) lasted just five innings in which he walked seven, gave up six hits and four runs. The victory was his fourth in as many starts since the All-Star break. Five Yankee hurlers combined to issue a season-high 12 walks.

“Fortunately, we won the game but you don’t want to do that,” Girardi said of giving a dozen free passes.

Trailing 3-1 going into the fourth, the Yankees unloaded on Smoltz, the 42-year-old antique who had shoulder surgery last June and is 2-5 with an obese 8.32 ERA after giving up eight runs and nine hits in 31/3 innings.

Posada (3-for-5) started the rally with a double and finished it by crushing a three-run homer off Traber. Cabrera, the No. 9 hitter, drove a three-run homer off Smoltz into the second deck in right.

Hideki Matsui, who hasn’t started the last three games against lefties, added a two-run double off the left-handed Traber in the fifth.

For those in the crowd that stayed, Pedroia offered a drop of excitement when he took exception to getting hit by Mark Melancon in the eighth inning after Melancon threw high and tight in the same at-bat. Pedroia yelled at Melancon and was escorted toward first base by Posada. Plate umpire and crew chief Derryl Cousins issued a warning.

While the Yankees fret about rotation depth, something they attempted to address by acquiring Chad Gaudin last night from the Padres, the reeling and hurting Red Sox have to figure out what to do with Smoltz. The DL is an option.

“I know why you would ask that,” Boston manager Terry Francona said when asked if it was time to re-evaluate Smoltz’ status. “But I don’t think five minutes after a game is the right time to come to a conclusion on that.”